On 22 August 2008, the Premier of Queensland, Anna Bligh, officially launched Gold Coast City’s bid to host the Commonwealth Games in 2018. On 7 April 2009, the ABCreported a land exchange deal between Gold Coast City and State of Queensland for Carrara Stadium. According to Mayor Ron Clarke, the land would aid a potential bid for the 2018 Commonwealth Games. The land exchanged would be used as the site of an aquatics centre. In the same article, Mayor Clarke raised the question of the Australian Federal Government’s commitment to a 2018 Commonwealth Games bid in light of the Government’s support for Australia’s 2018 FIFA World Cup Finals bid.[7]On 16 April 2009, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh told reporters that a successful Commonwealth Games bid by Gold Coast City could help the tourist strip win a role in hosting the World Cup.[8]

“Some of the infrastructure that would be built for the Commonwealth Games will be useful for Gold Coast City to get a World Cup game out of the soccer World Cup if we’re successful as a nation,” she said. However the decision on the venues for the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups were made eleven months prior to the bid decision for the 2018 Commonwealth Games, so the potential World Cup venues had already been chosen. On 3 June 2009, Gold Coast City was confirmed as Australia’s exclusive bidder vying for the 2018 Commonwealth Games.[9] “Should a bid proceed, Gold Coast City will have the exclusive Australian rights to bid as host city for 2018,” Bligh stated.

“Recently I met with the president and CEO of the Australian Commonwealth Games Association and we agreed to commission a full and comprehensive feasibility study into the potential for the 2018 Commonwealth Games,” she said. “Under the stewardship of Queensland Events new chair, Geoff Dixon, that study is now well advanced.” On 15 March 2010, it was announced that the Queensland Government will provide initial funding of A$11 million for the 2018 Commonwealth Games bid. The Premier of Queensland has indicated the Government’s support for the bid to the Australian Commonwealth Games Association.[10] On 31 March 2010, the Australian Commonwealth Games Association officially launched the bid to host the 2018 Commonwealth Games.[11] In October 2011, Gold Coast City Mayor Ron Clarke stated that the games would provide a strong legacy for the city after the games have ended.[12]

On 10 November 2011, the Hambantota bidders claimed they had already secured enough votes to win the hosting rights.[13]However, on 11 November it was officially announced Gold Coast City had won the rights to host the games.[14][15]

In February 2012, Mark Peters was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Gold Coast City 2018 Commonwealth Games Corporation.[16] The Queensland Government Minister tasked with overseeing the Games was Kate Jones.[17]

One of the key technical aspects of Gold Coast City’s successful bid was the fact that the city had 80 percent of the planned venues in place before the bidding deadline. The vast majority of venues were located within 20-minutes driving time of the Athletes Village in Parkwood and were broadly grouped into three areas; Central Gold Coast City, North Gold Coast City and South Gold Coast City. The only competitions held outside of Gold Coast City were track cycling and the preliminary rounds of Basketball which were held in Brisbane and Cairns or Townsvillerespectively, along with the shooting which was held in neighbouring Belmont.[18]

The 2018 Commonwealth Games Athletes Village provided accommodation and services to 6600 athletes and officials in 1252 permanent dwellings: 1170 one and two bedroom apartments and 82 three bedroom townhouses at Southport, Gold Coast.[19]

The Gold Coast 2018 Queen’s Baton Relay was launched on Commonwealth Day, 13 March 2017, on the historic forecourt at Buckingham Palace, signalling the official countdown to the start of the Games. Accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh and Prince Edward The Earl of Wessex, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II heralded the start of the relay by placing her ‘message to the Commonwealth and its athletes’ into the distinctive loop-design Queen’s Baton which then set off on its journey around the globe. It traveled for 388 days, spending time in every nation and territory of the Commonwealth. The Gold Coast 2018 Queen’s Baton Relay was the longest in Commonwealth Games history. Covering 230,000 km over 388 days, the baton made its way through the six Commonwealth regions of Africa, the Americas, the Caribbean, Europe, Asia and Oceania.

The baton landed on Australian soil in December 2017 and then spent 100 days travelling through Australia, finishing its journey at the Opening Ceremony on 4 April 2018, where the message was removed from the Baton and read aloud by Charles, Prince of Wales.[20]

The Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority conducted an anti-doping drive in the months prior to the games, covering around 2500 tests of Australian athletes, as well as 500 tests against international athletes. Three Australians failed drug tests in this process, along with around 20 international athletes, subject to appeal. The Commonwealth Games Federation conducted in-competition testing and, matching protocol at the Olympic Games, launched a sample storage initiative to allow for future testing of samples up to ten years later, should detection technology improve.[22]

The regulations stated that from the 26 approved sports administered by Commonwealth Governing Bodies, a minimum of ten core sports and maximum of seventeen sports must be included in any Commonwealth Games schedule. The approved sports included the 10 core sports: athletics, badminton, boxing, hockey, lawn bowls, netball (for women), rugby sevens, squash, swimming and weightlifting. Integrated disabled competitions were also scheduled for the Games in nine sports: swimming, athletics, cycling, table tennis, powerlifting and lawn bowls. Along with these events for the first time EAD events in triathlon were held, with the medals added to the final tally for each nation. A record 38 para events were contested at these games.[26] On 8 March 2016, beach volleyball was announced as the 18th sport.[27]

The program was broadly similar to that of the 2014 Commonwealth Games, with the major changes being the dropping of judo, the reintroduction of basketball, the debut of women’s rugby sevens and beach volleyball.[28]

On 7 October 2016, it was announced seven new events for women were added to the sport program, meaning there are an equal number of events for men and women. This marks the first time in history that a major multi-sport event has equality in terms of events. In total 275 events in 18 sports are being contested.[29][30]

Numbers in parentheses indicate the number of medal events contested in each sport.

Following tradition, the host of the previous games, Scotland entered first, followed by the rest of the European countries competing.[33] Following this, all countries paraded in alphabetical order from their respective regions. After the European countries entered, countries from Africa, the Americas, Asia, the Caribbean, and lastly Oceania marched in. The host nation of Australia entered last. Each nation was preceded by a placard bearer carrying a sign with the country’s name.

The organising committee decided to bring in the athletes before the start of the ceremony. This caused an uproar on social media as, contrary to public expectations, none of the athletes were shown entering the stadium during the ceremony. Broadcast rights holders Channel 7 complained on air about the decision and concluded that, “it hasn’t really lived up to expectations”. Many spectators and athletes left during the ceremony, resulting in a half-empty stadium for much of the event.[36] Following this, the ABC claimed that Channel 7 was briefed on the closing ceremony schedule,[37] a claim which Channel 7 later refuted.[38]

The ranking in this table is consistent with International Olympic Committee convention in its published medal tables. By default, the table is ordered by the number of gold medals the athletes from a nation have won (in this context, a “nation” is an entity represented by a Commonwealth Games Association). The number of silver medals is taken into consideration next and then the number of bronze medals. If nations are still tied, equal ranking is given and they are listed alphabetically by their three-letter country code. Australia tops the medal table rank with 80 gold, second England with 45 gold and third India with 26 gold.

The official motto for the 2018 Commonwealth Games was “Share the Dream”. It was chosen to highlight the dreams and experience at the games that were shared by participants of the games, ranging from athletes to volunteers and the host country Australia to the world including the Commonwealth nations.[39]

Borobi was named as the mascot of the 2018 Commonwealth Games in 2016. Borobi is a blue koala, with indigenous markings on its body. The term “borobi” means koala in the Yugambeh language, spoken by the indigenous Yugambeh peopleof the Gold Coast and surrounding areas.[41]

At a charity gala held on 4 November 2017, the medals for the games were officially unveiled. Australian Indigenous artist Delvene Cockatoo-Collins designed the medals, while they were produced by the Royal Australian Mint. The design of the medals was inspired by the coastline of Gold Coast along with Indigenous culture.[42] Furthermore, Cockatoo-Collins mentioned, “the medal design represents soft sand lines which shift with every tide and wave, also symbolic of athletic achievement, The continual change of tide represents the evolution in athletes who are making their mark, Records are made and special moments of elation are celebrated”. Approximately 1,500 medals were created to be distributed to the medallists and each measures approximately 63 millimetres in diameter. The medals weigh between 138 and 163 grams.[43]